Wildlife Update

When we first moved to rural southern Virginia after living our whole lives on Long Island, in the shadow of New York City, we expected a lot more wildlife than what we could see along the city streets. Our first year at Seven Oaks, the wildest things we saw were deer (constantly grazing in the yard and necessitating the cages around the fruit trees), wild turkeys, turkey vultures or buzzards, and one huge turtle that somehow decided using the orchard as a highway was a good idea.

We were really surprised by the lack of song birds, but this year, the song birds are here – an amazing array of brilliantly colored birds, with songs ranging from liquid trills to raucous cries.

We think what happened is that it took a while for the birds to find our nice, three acre clearing. For at least the last 20 years, our land was entirely loblolly pine. Without the diversity of tree species, many common birds won’t nest or feed. Seed eaters can’t find much and neither can the insect eaters. We think it took the birds a while to find our area and move in.

Now that the clearing has been here for two years, and we have nice, lush grass and clover, birds are more attracted. The new vegetable garden is a big hit with the song birds too. The bluebirds love to perch on the tops of the fences and sing, and we watched the female bluebird soar in and out of the vegetable garden with various worms and things in her beak. I have seen indigo buntings along the driveway, too.

It sounds as if somewhere in the woods close by, we have a nest of hawks or other raptors. Their cries are unmistakable, and the silences, followed by several voices in chorus, makes me think that Mom and Dad raptor are busy feeding their young.

Lastly, we’ve got reptiles – oh boy, do we have reptiles! Aside from the black snake I ran into on trail a few weeks ago, we had a huge one in our driveway. Thank goodness it just slithered off into the woods. Pierre caught a blue-tailed lizard or salamander last week and brought it right to me while I was watering the plants. John managed to release it back into the grass, but it promptly ran under the porch. Pierre refused to give up his vigil, his nose pressed against the screen that keeps larger animals from burrowing under the porch. I had to bodily haul him back into the house when play time was over.

We have this lizard friend pictured at the top of today’s post living in the pile of slates we bought for the flower garden paths. The pallets are still sitting next to the driveway, since we can never find time to finish the paths.

I think this lizard is Sceleporous undulatus, or the Eastern fence lizard. The Virginia Herpetologic Society (a group of folks who study lizard species here) has information on this guy here.

Like our owls, he’s one of the most common lizards in Virginia. But he sure is fun. Every day, he sits on the rocks and suns himself. He let me sneak up and snap this photo of him. We’re starting to think of him like a pet. We need a name for him! He has such a round belly for a lizard. He doesn’t seem the least bit afraid of us, either. I have to be careful not to let Pierre near him.

And although I will probably write a separate entry on Friday about my peonies, I just had to share these photos with you. I planted the roots in fall 2007, had greenery last year, and this year – amazing flowers. Since it can take 3-5 years for peonies to get started, I am thrilled with them. The white is supposed to be Festiva Maxima but it lacks the telltale pink on the petal tips, and the pink is one called Sorbet. I have a dwarf variety and a President Taft peony in the island bed in the lawn; the President Taft peony will bloom this year too. Enjoy!